Travis: Where art thou cellphone?

I wrote a column last summer about my car not starting and having left my cellphone at home. I was stuck, not knowing anyone’s number, and had to walk for help.

My co-worker Nhi recently wrote about a fender bender she had in her mother’s car and how helpless she felt because she did not have her phone. She could not remember any numbers to call for help.

Well, exactly the opposite happened to me last weekend. Again, my husband was at the cabin out of cellphone range. It was cold, and I slipped on my coat to take a bag of garbage out to the trash can. I thought I had unlocked the door (a bolt above the door knob) and went outside.

When I tried to return inside, the door was locked. I must have just turned the bolt enough to let me out, and when I slammed the door shut to preserve the heat in the house, the lock must have sprung back. So there I was, locked out of my house with no help in sight.

By some miracle, I had my cellphone in my coat pocket and was able to call my daughter. She drove over in about five minutes with her key to my house and rescued me. Without the phone, I would have been reduced to walking down Floyd Street to get to my daughter’s home. Suffice it to say, it was early in the morning, and I had not dressed to the nines to take out the garbage.

The moral of my story? I am getting paranoid about my cellphone.

I am constantly checking my pockets or pocketbook to make sure I have it. I don’t dare to walk out of the house without my phone.

I suppose I could buy one of those fancy cases that you clip on your belt. But I rarely, if ever, wear a belt. So that purchase probably would not be helpful.

I know I could buy a fancy gadget that would attach my phone to my purse. But I don’t carry my purse with me when I work in the yard.

I have one of those wallets you hang around your neck and inside your shirt to protect you from pickpockets. I take it with me and use it when my sister and I travel overseas. After about three days of that strap around my neck, I am sick of that wallet and my neck is itchy. The first thing I do when we get on a plane to come back home is take that wallet off and stuff it in my pocket book.

I suppose I could use it for my cellphone. But, first of all, I wouldn’t want that bump of a phone under my shirt. Second, I couldn’t stand that scratchy feeling on my neck.

Remember when we, those of you my age, went to proms during high school? We wore those scratchy tulle dresses over hoop skirts. They were strapless. The problem always was where to attach the corsage your date purchased for you.

If you pinned them to the bodice of your dress, they usually stuck up over the top of the dress and were uncomfortable. The solution was a wrist corsage.

I have a small utilitarian cellphone. I don’t text or email by phone.

I tried to text once and my daughter, the recipient of the text, thought it was so funny she put it on Facebook. I ran my words all together because I didn’t know what made a space.

I know my idea wouldn’t work for those who have serious phones. But maybe someone could invent something similar to a wrist corsage. It could strap on like a watch. It would have a nice little case attached to the band into which you could insert your phone.

That way it would always be with you, and you would not constantly be searching through your pocket book when the phone rings. My husband says I never answer when he calls. I do, but I answer just a minute after he hangs up. He says he lets it ring long enough. Maybe long enough for him, but not long enough for me to search through my pocketbook.

Paula Travis is a retired teacher from the Newton County School System. She can be reached at ptravis@covnews.com.